llevarvsllevarseTell them apart

Which to use

“llevar” and “llevarse” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#612
“llevar” frequency rank
#6,199
“llevarse” frequency rank
6811
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature llevar llevarse
Definition Trasladar algo o a alguien desde un lugar hacia otro separado en el espacio. Tomar algo consigo.

Where the eye mixes llevar and llevarse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
llevar
8 ch
llevarse

Why the eye confuses llevar with llevarse

A purely visual mix-up. llevar ([ʝeˈβ̞aɾ]) and llevarse ([ʝeˈβ̞aɾse]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “llevar” sits inside “llevarse”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6811, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

llevar is recorded at frequency rank #612, classified as averb, pronounced [ʝeˈβ̞aɾ]. llevarse is at rank #6,199, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʝeˈβ̞aɾse].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 6811, this pair ranks #309,739 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of llevar vs llevarse

Shared letters: aelrv. Private to "llevar": -. Private to "llevarse": s.

"llevar" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "llevarse" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • llevarlelvar · levar · lleavr · llebar · llevarr · llevra · llevvar · llvear
  • llevarselelvarse · levarse · lleavrse · llebarse · llevarce · llevares · llevarrse · llevarsse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "llevar" for "llevarse" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʝeˈβ̞aɾ] versus [ʝeˈβ̞aɾse]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "llevar" vs "llevarse" - which ranks higher?
"llevar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #612 in our Spanish list, against #6,199 for "llevarse". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "llevar" and "llevarse" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "llevar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "llevarse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #309,739 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "llevar" and "llevarse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "llevarás vs llevarse". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #309,739 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list